Primate Labs today posted an updated series of Geekbench scores for the Mac mini. This includes scores for the latest Core 2 Duo models that were released by Apple last week.

According to the company's blog, "Moving from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo brings modest performance improvements without an increase in clock speed, and moving from 1.83GHz to 2.0GHz brings (unsurprisingly) another modest increase in performance. If you're running a previous generation Mac mini I see no real reason to upgrade (unless, of course, you want to use 64-bit applications). Of course, if you're moving from a PowerPC (or Core Solo) Mac mini, you'll notice a huge improvement in performance, not only from the improved Core 2 architecture, but also from the addition of an extra processing core."

Primate Labs is an independent software company based in Waterloo, Ontario. They develop Geekbench, which is a cross-platform benchmarking tool for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

I think it will be more interesting to re-run all of the tests once 10.5 has been released, and see what advantage this gives the 64-bit processors. While running Tiger, the overall score for the 1.83 GHz C2D is only 6% higher than the identically clocked Core Duo. Nothing to get excited about._________________Intel Mini 2.0GHz C2D (4GB/120GB/SuperDrive/10.5.8 ), 120GB WD Passport, Logitech ergo k/b
iPod Touch (32GB, 3rd gen), iPod Shuffle (512MB, 1st gen)

I don't suspect 64-bit will gain that much on the Mac mini. The biggest advantage of 64-bit computing is that you can address over 4-GB of RAM. Since the Mac mini only has 2-GB max, 64-bit is not going to matter.

Some people argue that 64-bit processors transfer chunks of data that are twice as large, and therefore 64-bit CPUs are faster. However, in many cases a true 64-bit application sees no real performance advantage if everything else is equal. The reason is because, while the processor can move data in chunks twice the size, often the instructions in a 64-bit app are also compiled to twice the size of their 32-bit equivalent. This essentially cancels out the advantage of the CPU being able to move larger chunks of data.

So, unless an application is very memory intensive or has very large datasets, there is not that much of a performance gain from 64-bit computing. In some instances 32-bit apps run faster on 64-bit CPUs.

I found the benchmarking to be very helpful with regard to deciding which of the new minis to buy. I thought that the 2.0 ghz model would have a big advantage over the 1.83 because of its larger cache (4 mb vs 2 mb on the 1.83). However, the difference in overall speed appears to be less than 10%, which is to say, less than the difference in processor speed. As a result, I am now more inclined to buy the low end model, since I don't need a CD burner. I can get the same drive as the high end and max out the RAM for less than the cost of the stock high end mini. But I'm still planning to hold out for the release of Leopard before buying. _________________Mini 1 (2012): 2.3 ghz Core i7; 10 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
Mini 2 (2009): 2.26 ghz Core 2 duo, 8 gb RAM, 500 gb Seagate used as HTPC
Also a 13" MacBook Air, 21.5" i5 iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu, openSUSE & Crunchbang

I thought that the 2.0 ghz model would have a big advantage over the 1.83 because of its larger cache (4 mb vs 2 mb on the 1.83). However, the difference in overall speed appears to be less than 10%, which is to say, less than the difference in processor speed.

Yeah, I thought that extra 2MB of L2 cache, along with the higher clock speed, would bring in some higher marks. I'm just going with the 1.83GHz model and slapping a 160GB drive and 2GB of RAM in there. This will still bring in the total cost below the 2.0GHz model. It also gives me more expansion for either Boot Camp or Parallels. And I have a LaCie external DVD burner, so I don't need the SuperDrive. To be honest, I mostly burn CDs anyways. I'm ordering mine later in the week. I'm one of the few Intel holdouts round these parts, so I can't wait! _________________1.25GHz Mac Mini / 1.8GHz iMac G5 / 2.0GHz C2D Mac mini (2009)
4GB iPod mini / 2G iPod shuffle / 16GB iPhone 3G
Apple TV 2
iLife's a Bitch!